GRAND RAPIDS, MI — West Michigan’s fourth Bagger Dave’s, a regionally-expanding burger tavern chain, is opening in downtown Grand Rapids just in time for Memorial Day.

The new full-service restaurant from Southfield-based Diversified Restaurant Holdings, throws wide its doors to the public on Sunday, May 26, at 241 W. Fulton St., on the corner of a riverside retail strip at the base of Plaza Towers.

The restaurant's grand opening is 11 a.m. on Sunday.

The 190-some seat eatery, dressed in earth tones and historic Grand Rapids photos, features a bar area with high-top tables, as well as main and secondary dining rooms with a model train circling the ceiling perimeter. A streetside patio will be added later.

Flat screen TVs in each corner were tuned to ESPN and CNN during a special sneak-peek of the new restaurant on Thursday, May 23. The location has more than 80 employees, a number inevitably pared-down in the coming weeks.

“We feel like Grand Rapids (metro area) is a nice accumulation of cities and towns. You can have a big impact by concentrating on the Grand Rapids area," she said. “We’re very attracted by the size of the city and the family orientation we associate with it.”

The menu downtown parallels that of other locations, with small tweaks here and there like the addition of an Italian beef sandwich, said downtown general manager Jim Kozlowski. One hour of parking will be validated in the gated riverside lot.

The chain markets local craft beer over domestic brands like Miller or Budweiser, although both are sold. The downtown menu features Michigan draft beers from Brewery Vivant, Founders, Bell’s, Mount Pleasant Brewing Co., Short’s, Arbor Brewing Co. and New Holland. Pints are between $5 and $6.

“We appeal to all crowds, but feel men are drawn to craft beer,” she said.

Ben-Ezra said Diversified, publicly traded on the NASDAQ, is “heavily-focused” on growing the Bagger Dave’s brand, preferring to locate new restaurants in end-cap retail strip or standalone locations.

The downtown location, at 4,500-square-feet, is on the low end of the company’s sweet spot for establishment footprint, she said. Located two blocks west of the Van Andel Arena, the downtown restaurant is not far from high-traffic foot paths, but is nonetheless slightly off the beaten pedestrian route for downtown diners and drinkers.

“We don’t necessarily need to be right in the middle of the action, as long as we’re in the vicinity,” she said.

Ben-Ezra said downtown Grand Rapids is likely the final Bagger Dave’s location to open in West Michigan this year. In 2013, the company is planning two restaurants in downtown Detroit, and one near the Grand Traverse Mall in Traverse City.

Diversified debuted Bagger Dave's in 2008. By the end of 2017, the company hopes to operate approximately 50 Bagger Dave's and 47 Buffalo Wild Wings locations.

She said the company aims for average annual sales between $1.4 and $1.6 million at each location. In a quarterly earnings statement, Diversified projected its fiscal 2013 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization at between $15 million and $16 million.

“If the (Bagger Dave’s) concept wasn’t doing well, we wouldn’t be doing so many of them.”

Diversified signed a franchise agreement with an operator in Missouri for six locations, although “since then, we’ve decided (franchising) is not the route we want to go.”